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New Delhi: Homegrown personal hygiene products maker Soothe Healthcare, whose brands are Paree sanitary pads and Super Cute diapers, is looking at a revenue of Rs 500 crore in three years, as it expands product portfolio and builds distribution presence across the country.
“We manufacture, distribute and market personal hygiene products. We believe there is a tremendous (growth) opportunity as income rises and awareness increases. Paree sanitary pads is already a Rs 100-crore brand. With Super Cute, we are looking to add another Rs 50 crore,” said Soothe Healthcare Chief Executive Officer and founder Sahil Dharia.
Dharia said the company expects the sanitary napkins market to have tailwinds on the back of government initiatives and growing awareness in the coming years.
“So, we believe we will be a Rs 500 crore company in three years… We are now an FMCG company that is looking beyond sanitary napkins. We are also in baby diapers now. We plan to get into the adult diapers space and launch products next year. One product at a time,” he added.
Soothe Healthcare launched its diaper brand Super Cute amid the COVID-19 pandemic in October 2020.
When asked what was the rationale of launching a new product during a pandemic, Dharia said: “It was a calculated risk… We understand absorbent products well; we have assets in distribution… We have launched innovative products in the diaper space. In a very short time, Super Cute will be a Rs 50 crore brand. It is already a Rs 40 crore brand.”
Elaborating on distribution for its products, Dharia said, “We are focused on non-metros (cities) at the moment. For Super Cute, we are in the top-20 cities right now, and we will be in the top-30 cities in the coming months. We plan to increase distribution to pan India by the second half of this calendar year”.
“We already have a good handle on distribution in North and Central India..now we are looking at expanding in South India in the second half of this calendar year,” he added.
Soothe Healthcare has two manufacturing plants in Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh, and its products are present in 1,50,00 outlets across India.
Dharia started the company in 2013 with a seed capital of Rs 8 crore. Over the years, Soothe Healthcare has raised several rounds of funding and invested by foreign institutional and domestic investors such as London listed private equity fund, Symphony Asia Holdings Pvt. Ltd. and Mumbai-based consumer fund, Sixth Sense Ventures.
Sixth Sense has already invested thrice in the last three years, and Symphony invested twice.
When asked how much money the company has raised so far, he said: “We have raised several hundred crore. We are well capitlised. For our capital expansion, we continue to raise debt.”